January 20, 2015

Lots to Celebrate! (Including Book News!)

There's a lotta stuff to celebrate today on PoochSmooches, so I hope you'll let me be a teensy bit wordy! (Don't you always??) :)

First of all, Jan. 21 is Rita's Gotcha Day! Three years ago we brought this crazy little pup home.

Okay, I'm cheating and recycling this pic from two years ago cuz we are going to have delay our usual celebrations until the weekend. The Daddy has to work late all this week, so we'll go get Rita her Gotcha Day "Flying Dutchman" from In-N-Out on the weekend.

Second, I'm celebrating cuz this is my 500th blog post! Woot! **blows horn/throws confetti** Okay, that's done.

Third... Jan 21 is the 20th anniversary of the day the hubs proposed to me! This pic was actually a photo-reenactment that we did, but he ran ahead of me and wrote "will you marry me?" in the sand. It was on a lovely beach in Bermuda, where we lived at the time. It was uber romantic. (And he's been trading on that for 20 years now!) 
My answer: "Did you write that?" I was a little stunned!
We both had so much more hair back then! (That Bermuda humidity!)
Us with a congrats letter

We should probably go out to dinner to celebrate this, but like I said...the hubs has to work late all this week. Another day.

FINALLY.... the fourth thing is BOOK NEWS!! 

Yesterday, it was officially announced in Publishers Marketplace that my agent, Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, and I sold the rights to my third book to Lake Union Publishing, which is one of Amazon's imprints. The plan is for the book to be out in early November. Yah!!

The title is AN INCONVENIENT RUTH. (At least I hope this will be the title... There's some talk of changing it. But I really like this title, since I thought of it way back in 2009, so we've been together a long time!)

Never fear! The book is my usual Fido-friendly fiction and tells the story of Alex Halstad, a Type-A interior designer and dog mom, who finds her life turned upside down when the teenage daughter her husband never knew he had shows up on their doorstep... with a baby of her own.

Alex and her hubby have a rescued Labradoodle named Marie. I pictured Marie looking just like our family friend's pup, Annie. Isn't she adorable??
Photo credit: Annie's mom

Marie is totally the hero of the story, and I can't wait for y'all to get to read about her and her mom, Alex! I think of the story as being about a dog-mom trying to make it in a "real-mom" world!

But wait... there's more! Lake Union also bought the rights to RESCUE ME, MAYBE, so my second novel will be re-released in August. 

I'm sure I'll be sharing more news on all this stuff as it happens!

Oh, and just in case anyone thinks I'm going to be a big, rich author now, trust me - there are only a handful of authors that get rich! 

It's lovely to have an advance on the books, but it's not "quit your day job" type money. Although this IS my day job. No one should get into writing books to make a quick buck. Hahahahahha. That's just funny. If you calculated my hourly pay, it would be sad indeed. You gotta do this cuz you love it, and the words are just in you and want to come out. 

I know others of you out there are working on your own books, so keep the dream alive! I self-published my first two books, and could have gone that route again with AIR but I had the dream of having a publishing deal, so wanted to try and go for it. I'm grateful for having the self-publishing option open to me, and think it's a great thing for authors (especially control-freaks like me!), but I wanted to try and see if I could make it with a traditional deal and see which way I like better. 

I'm really excited to be working with Amazon and can't wait to share more news with you as the journey continues!


Hope you'll join in all our celebrating! Treats all around!

Thanks to Blogpaws for hosting Wordless Wednesday!


55 comments:

  1. Bravo, great news. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  2. Congrats all around. It is a very exciting time! I wish you all kinds of success. Happy Gotcha Day Rita. Happy engagement anniversary too. :)

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    1. Thanks! I'm hoping to get in touch with a lot more readers this way! :)

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  3. That is a lot to celebrate. Congrats on all the great news!

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    1. It's crazy how much we have to celebrate right now! (It's just a bummer the hubs has such a crazy work week!)

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  4. Wow lots to celebrate indeed. Congrats on it all, awesome book news!

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  5. Wow! This is our first visit to your blog and looks like we picked the right day to do it! Lots to celebrate so BIG congratulations from The Dogvine Crew here in London.

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    1. You did pick a good day to visit! We'll come by and visit you too!

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  6. I am just so thrilled for you. Celebrating is going on at your house I bet.

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    1. Yes - a lot of celebrating! Most of it taking the form of bowls of ice cream! We did manage to go out to dinner last week since we knew the book news then. But we'll celebrate the rest this weekend. :)

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  7. Wow you have a lot to celebrate, we loved that baby picture of cute Rita....congrat's on all.
    stella rose

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    1. Wasn't she so cute! Love to see her looking so happy in her brand new home! (Cuz she was very mopey when we met her at the pet store where they were having the adoption event!)

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  8. Big day!! I love that pic of puppy Rita running. Give her two kisses -- one from me and a toothy one from Reg. How did 20 years go by since the romantic sand-writing? Jon just said (again), "That's the kind of thing some guys do that ruins it for the rest of us." And, of course, we are all very happy for you about your big publishing news.

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    1. lol. Hard to believe it's 20 years! kisses will be delivered!

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  9. Jackie - I am so proud of you, I'm sitting here with a huge grin on my face! All this news is absolutely wonderful. and so deserving. So happy my books are autographed LOL Celebrate all of these milestones one at a time. Congrats again my friend, well done.

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  10. Wow - big congratulations on all that wonderful news!

    Love the proposal in the sand - sigh...so romantic!

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    1. It was VERY romantic! We were out running together in a light rain. He was always a faster runner than me so would run ahead and come back. He ran past me with a stick in his hand and a big grin on his face and I had no idea what he was up to!

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  11. You really do have lots of happy news! Congrats on all of it.

    What a cute way to propose! Did he have to hurry you along so the surf would not wash away his words?

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    1. haha! No, he must have checked the tide charts! Actually, it was kinda funny, cuz he wrote it up the beach a little ways by some rocks. He's running ahead of me saying, "Come here, I want to show you something" and he's pointing at the sand by the rocks. And I'm thinking "WtH could it be? A fish washed up? Is he going to show me a dead fish??" Clearly I was a bit shocked when I saw what it was!

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  12. 1. Happy Gotcha Day Rita! 2. Congrats on 500 blog posts (mom hopes hers doesn't slip by) 3. Congrats on the book! Love Dolly

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    1. Thank you! I was afraid my 500th had already slipped by, but luckily I remembered to check last week and saw that it was coming up! It worked out nicely that it fell on today's post!

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  13. So much happy news all at once. Our hope is that the rest of 2015 gives you a lot more to celebrate and that when you become a celebrated author you won't forget us, the little people and dogs, who encouraged you.

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    1. Well, if 2015 keeps going the way it's been, it will be a very good year! And oh, I'll never forget y'all! Or... I'll try not to anyway. ;)

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  14. WOW! Lots of Golden CONGRATS!!! and Happy Gotcha Day RITA!!! We have have to meet you :-) soon. Golden Woofs

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    1. She's having a good Gotcha Day so far. We had a very fun play date with her best boxer buddy this morning. Now she's pooped and taking a nap!

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  15. Wow! Lots of congratulations and happy Gotcha Day to beautiful Rita!

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  16. Tons of great news! That's how you start off 2015 right:)

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  17. Wow! Lots of exciting things going on for you right now. Congratulations to all of you on all your news!

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  18. What an exciting day!! Congratulations on everything! I'm really looking forward to the new book, it sounds great. I hope you get to enjoy some celebrating when your hubby is done working late.
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  19. WOW! WOW! WOW!!! What incredibly pawtastic news! Happy Happy Gotcha Day Rita!! Happy Engagement Day! Happy 500th post and what pawesome book news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great way to start 2015!

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  20. So many exciting things going on for you today, congrats on all of them!

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    1. Thank you! It has been kinda exciting around here! Not like normal, lol!

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  21. Congrats on all counts! Good luck with the book! *wags* - Gilligan from WagsAhoy.com

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    1. Thank you! Hope you guys won't get sick of hearing me blab about it!

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  22. Congrats - so many wonderful things! A Gotcha Day, an anniversary, and a book! Way to go!!!!!!!!

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  23. Wow - what a big day in the Pooch Smooches household! Congrats on everything!

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  24. Congratulations on all the good news! Looking forward to reading it.

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  25. Wow! That is great news - congratulations! Happy Gotcha Day, Rita!

    Monty and Harlow

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  26. Clapping, whistling and dancing in your confetti! Congratulations to the moon and back!! That is so awesome!

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  27. Wow, so much to celebrate. Happy gotcha day to Rita, happy 500th post, happy 20th engagement anniversary, and happy new book! 2015 is looking like a good year for you and the fam!

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  28. Geez, that is the most exciting post! Congratulations on everything and a special congrats to Rita!

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  29. Congrats on everything ! You and hubby seem to have a real good handle on life,,,it's what you make it. Keep on doin' what you're doin' .

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  30. Thrilling news about your book deal! I can't wait to read AIR, you have such talent. I'm working on my book review page and will be adding RMM this month (I want to reread it first). Gracious, all that and 500 posts too! AND Rita's gotcha day! AND your proposal anniversary. Well I sure hope you are having champagne or a margarita or something to celebrate this weekend!

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  31. hello pooch smooches its dennis the vizsla dog hay kongratchoolayshuns on the book deel!!! and happy belayted gotcha day to yoo rita!!! and hay pooch smooches husband my dada sez nice wurk on the beetch!!! ok bye

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  32. Wow Jackie...lots of great news here! Happy belated gotcha day to Rita, congrats on your 500th post, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. As for the book deal. WOOT! That is just awesome. And to have the other one re-released...very cool! Can't wait to read the new one. Hope you get to keep your title. :-)

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